Art therapy serves as a crucial intervention modality for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), demonstrating unique value in emotional expression, sensory integration, and social communication. However, current practice presents critical challenges, including the disconnect between design expertise and clinical needs, unclear mechanisms of environmental factors’ impact on therapeutic outcomes, and insufficient evidence-based support for technology integration. Purpose: This study aimed to construct an evidence-based theoretical framework for art therapy environment design for children with autism, clarifying the relationship between environmental design elements and therapeutic effectiveness. Methodology: Based on the Web of Science database, this study employed a dual-track approach comprising bibliometric analysis and micro-qualitative content analysis to systematically examine the knowledge structure and developmental trends. Research hotspots were identified through keyword co-occurrence network analysis using CiteSpace, while 24 representative design cases were analyzed to gain insights into design concepts, emerging technologies, and implementation principles. Key Findings: Through keyword network visualization analysis, this study identified ten primary research clusters that were systematically categorized into four core design elements: sensory feedback design, behavioral guidance design, emotional resonance design, and therapeutic support design. A responsive therapeutic environment conceptual framework was proposed, encompassing four interconnected components based on the ABC model from positive psychology: emotional, sensory, environmental, and behavioral dimensions. Evidence-based design principles were established emphasizing child-centeredness, the promotion of multisensory expression, the achievement of dynamic feedback, and appropriate technology integration. Research Contribution: This research establishes theoretical connections between environmental design elements and art therapy effectiveness, providing a systematic design guidance framework for interdisciplinary teams, including environmental designers, clinical practitioners, technology developers, and healthcare administrators. The framework positions technology as a therapeutic mediator rather than a driver, ensuring technological integration supports rather than interferes with children’s natural creative impulses. This contributes to creating more effective environmental spaces for art therapy activities for children with autism while aligning with SDG3 goals for promoting mental health and reducing inequalities in therapeutic access.

Augmented reality technology is characterised by its mobile, practical, multimodal, and data-driven trend. This paper presents a design framework that employs AI and augmented reality technologies to address an entire process of intelligent perception and design intervention for mitigating risks in children's school commuting environments. For intelligent perception section, 617 accident news texts were used for training purposes utilising natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning techniques. As a result, 6 influential characteristics related to children's school commuting environment (Time, road type, surrounding features, area functional type, user, age type and connection type). The prediction model holds 3 severity degrees and covers 6 types of incidents. For design intervention section, design strategies and techniques are defined based on various degrees. The prototype is designed using a mobile augmented reality device and a smart watch as design touchpoints.